Commissioned officers of the armed forces, active or retired, could not occupy the top two positions at the same time (CIA).
Intelligence Reform Needed
Countless reorganizations of the intelligence community since the end of the Cold War have not produced satisfactory results (Harris 2002). U.S. intelligence counterterrorist programs have certainly made record achievements, such as the thwarting of planned attacks on New York's Lincoln and Holland tunnels in 1993 and against airports on the West Coast in the eve of the millennium. But reforms are quite needed. The first is to provide warning. The most difficult task of the intelligence officer is to provide warning. The intelligence community also needs a more risk-taking and failure-tolerant management approach. Safeguarding national security means putting it above saving pennies. Neither should the possibility of failure dampen innovativeness. Three broad standards should be adopted to enhance progress. These are well-established connectivity, diverse and prospering multidisciplinary analysis, and individual initiative (Harris).
The intelligence community should be networked and agile (Harris 2002). Strong ties must be established among community intelligence entities dealing with counter-terrorism issues. They should forge their own collaborations instead of waiting for their senior managers to authorize them and provide the hardware needed. A connected community has immediate knowledge of specialized expertise or fact, which is the central or last point in an analysis or clandestine collection program. Multidisciplinary analysis should be strengthened. The more creative approaches will be diverse and not focused only on current analysis. Outputs would be reports and research-based briefings, and collaboration with agencies and institutions along with improved raw intelligence. There is also needed reform on the aspect of accountability. The right approaches must produce actionable results or products, which can be shared with the community....
And counter-terrorism requires high standards of accountability (Harris).
The last needed reform is fostering individual initiative (Harris 2002). The U.S. intelligence community is so immense and its organizational structure is so complex that changing the organizational chart will not accomplish very much. The fact is sharp and clear that the community will be satisfyingly agile if driven largely by individual initiative rather than merely receiving instructions from top management. Senior officers must delegate and promote creative thinking and initiative by the workforce. Furthermore, reducing supervisory ranks will raise efficiency. U.S. intelligence has undergone changes, including countless re-organizations, but has not produced satisfying results. Reforms are quite needed (Harris). #
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BBC. Bush Pledge Over U.S. Intelligence. BBC News: British Broadcasting Company,
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CIA. History of the CIA. Central Intelligence Agency, 2007. Retrieved on May 30, 2009cia.html" http://www.cia.gov/kids-page/6-12th- grade/operation-history/history-of-the-cia.html
Harris, James W. The Path to Intelligence Reform: "Changes in the Intelligence Craft
Must Go Beyond Redrawing the Organizational Chart and Redesigning Its Chain of Command." USA Today: Society for the Advancement of Education, 2002. Retrieved
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